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M. Wayne Huggins Government Relations Director Legislative Update # 1 for February 17, 2010 All Members,
A good deal of media attention today centers around the Governor’s announced budget reduction proposals. As soon as we are able to review those proposals we will be providing as much detail as possible. Please keep in mind however these are proposals only. This coming Sunday, each House of the General Assembly will announce their budget proposals as well. At that time both the Senate and House of Delegates will appoint their budget “conferees”. The Budget conferees will then begin discussing the budgets proposed by each House as well as the Governor’s proposals. The current Session of the General Assembly is scheduled to conclude on March 13 by which time a budget is to be adopted by the General Assembly and onto the Governor for his review. That is, if the General Assembly concludes on time. No one knows if that will in fact occur. The Governor will then have approximately six weeks to review the adopted budget and then during the “veto” session, currently scheduled to occur in April, offer his amendments.
The point is this, what is currently being discussed are proposals. It will be April, if everything occurs on time, before we will know for sure what the next biennial budget will be and what impacts it will have.
One final thought, notwithstanding how serious the current budget crisis is, this Governor has repeatedly said public safety is his number one priority. As the aforementioned budget process unfolds we will be providing as much detail as possible. We know how anxious everyone is however we have no alternative but to wait for this process to unfold. We have been meeting daily with members of both Houses as well as the Governor’s staff discussing your concerns and the needs of the Department. We will keep you posted as factual information becomes available.
M. Wayne Huggins |